


A Ranger Halloween

by littlealex



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, Kanjani8 (Band)
Genre: Community: jentfic_remix, Gen, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-01
Updated: 2010-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-12 07:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/122289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlealex/pseuds/littlealex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryo can't stand it when Yoko starts acting like a baby, so he takes matters into his own hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Ranger Halloween

Ryo frowned beneath his yellow helmet. This was the first time in an unfortunately long history of dressing up as an Eito Ranger that he had ever been upset to wear the costume, and it was all Yoko's fault. All because he'd forced them to go Trick-Or-Treating for Halloween. Ryo had been all for it, originally (if there was anyone he knew who could pull off a good Halloween, it would be Yoko) but the moment they had all turned up at Yoko's apartment and struck an impressive Ranger-style pose, it had gone downhill.

Yoko was unimpressed with their efforts. ".... The idea was to get dressed up, you know," he said with a frown that Ryo immediately mirrored. Ryo folded his arms as everyone else started talking over each other to protest.

"What do you mean?" Maru said, shaking his fist.

"We _are_ dressed up!" Yasu said, knocking on his helmet.

"I mean _originally_ ," Yoko whined.

"I think we're original," Hina said, looking down at his outfit. It had been his idea, after all, to get everyone into their Ranger outfits (the only way to cajole everyone into the spirit of the holiday). All that effort, and Yoko was acting like a spoiled brat who didn't get exactly what he'd pictured.

"Maybe we're too original?" Ohkura said, tugging at his costume.

"I'm sure it'll work anyway!" Subaru declared, and it was only when everyone stumbled into the most awkward group hug ever that Ryo stopped seething at Yoko's childish behavior.

"Get off!" Ryo said, squirming out of Subaru's grasp around his waist.

Yoko was still sulking on the other side of the room, which annoyed Ryo even more than his frown. "What's your problem?" He asked, stalking up to Yoko with his arms folded. "We went to all this effort. We brought yours, too! Just because they're work clothes doesn't mean they can't be fun."

"It's not right," Yoko mumbled, not looking at Ryo's eyes but over his shoulder. Ryo followed Yoko's gaze to the awkward group hugging that was still going on: Yasu scolding Hina for smacking Maru on the head for nuzzling his neck while Ohkura looked completely oblivious to Subaru tracing the infinity symbol on his ass. The other five looked normal to him, but when he looked back at Yoko, it clicked.

There was something behind the downturn of Yoko's pout, behind his petulant eyes, that told Ryo exactly what wasn't right.

"You're such a baby," Ryo muttered, the awkward feeling in his stomach making him bristle. He turned on his heel and stomped out of the living room, grabbing his bag as he left the apartment. In his Ranger getup.

\---

"Are you at home?" The voice on the other end of the phone said when Uchi answered it. He _was_ at home, peacefully watching a marathon of _Exorcist_ movies with a bucket of sweet popcorn and some beer to keep him company. It wasn't the best way to spend a night usually reserved for drunken revelry, but it had been a long week so he didn't mind.

He wasn't expecting a phone call. "Um..." he said, because he knew that voice anywhere. It was the voice of a man on a mission. A very small, very scary Osakan man on a mission.

"I'll be there in five minutes. Get that box down from the top shelf in your wardrobe."

Uchi didn't have time to ask "Which box?" before the phone went dead and left him alone with the sound of priests talking on the television in the background. Of course he knew exactly which box and, given the fact that it was Halloween, it made complete sense. The part he was apprehensive about, though, was what would happen with the _contents_ of the box.

Still, when Nishikido Ryo called and told you to do something in a tone that said "or else I'll cut you", it was always best to just do it. No questions asked.

\---

By the time Ryo arrived at Uchi's apartment, he had forgotten he was wearing a ridiculous stage outfit. As soon as Uchi opened the door, he remembered.

Uchi's face twisted first into a confused expression, eyebrows furrowed and his head cocked just slightly to the left, before he broke into a look of knowing and started to laugh. Ryo just frowned and pushed past him into the doorway, toeing off his shoes before heading into the apartment.

"Whose idea was it?" Uchi asked as he closed the door, still laughing.

Ryo didn't waver from his path to the living room as he answered. "Hina's. Well, Yoko wanted Halloween, but the Rangers thing was Hina's idea."

"Then why do you need the box?" Uchi asked, leaning on the doorway to the living room as he watched Ryo rifle through the box of old costumes. They came from all over - mainly stage plays and dramas he'd done over the years - and he didn't really know why he kept them after his sister outgrew her dress-up phase. At least they were finally getting some use, and not just because Yasu invaded his closet at a house party.

"Because Yoko's being a baby," Ryo said, which was code for _Yoko's getting sentimental about the group and needs a reminder that Uchi still cares_. It was a very specific code.

"Ah," Uchi replied, and turned to look forlornly at the television. So much for a quiet evening. "So everyone's there?"

"Everyone." Ryo tugged a frilly pink tutu from the depths of the box and grinned. Evilly.

"No," Uchi said as firmly as he could. Of course, very little could deter a determined Nishikido Ryo, and Uchi knew that if he so much as flinched, Ryo would chase him, tackle him to the ground, and force the tutu on him.

Ryo was small, but he was quick and surprisingly strong.

"Yes," said Ryo, still grinning.

Uchi sighed and dropped his hands. "At least I won't look as ridiculous as you."

Ryo grinned wider and Uchi flinched. "Come on, Uchi. Your Ranger costume would match this _perfectly_."

\---

"I can't believe that old lady pinched my ass in the elevator," Uchi said, hitching up the Santa sack of costumes on his shoulder.

Ryo snorted as he rang Yoko's doorbell. "I told you the chicks would dig a ballerina Ranger."

Uchi blinked. "You do realize you're wearing your Ranger costume as well," he pointed out. Ryo glared at him out of the corner of his eye and pushed the doorbell again, harder this time.

The moment the door opened a crack, Ryo grabbed Uchi's elbow, slammed the door into the face of whoever had opened it and burst through the doorway into the apartment. The sound of Yoko swearing followed them, and a few of the more curious members (which was to say, all of them) emerged from the living room to see what the noise was about.

Uchi felt more dazed than he probably should have, given the lead-up to this moment, and he looked around at everyone, slightly sheepish in his pink tutu and matching Ranger costume.

"Here's your originality," Ryo said gruffly, letting go of Uchi's elbow as Yoko came back from the doorway blinking and rubbing his nose.

"... Uchi?" Yoko said finally, his eyes lighting up and the pain in his nose seemingly forgotten. "Uchi!" he repeated, a battle cry that called for all Rangers - dressed in the wrong colors - to converge on Yellow and Pink for a far more successful group hug.

Barely able to breathe, squashed amongst a mass of enthusiastic and loud young men, Ryo almost regretted his plan. But when he looked over at Yoko's shining eyes and an expression on Uchi's face that said he'd forgotten about the tutu, Ryo couldn't quite hide the smile on his own face. He even forgave Subaru when he accidentally pressed a kiss on the corner of his eye ("I was aiming for your ear!").

\---

Later that night, after more costume changes than a concert, more beer than a birthday celebration, and more candy than their digestive systems knew how to process, the full group of Eito had passed out on the floor of Yoko's living room. All except for Ryo and Yoko, who had propped themselves upright against the wall (though Yoko had leaned onto Ryo's shoulder and neither of them had noticed yet) in a valiant attempt to finish their beers. Ryo petted Uchi's head, which was somehow in his lap, and made a content sort of noise in his throat.

"Too bad we didn't go Trick-Or-Treating in the end," Ryo mumbled, staring at the way his fingers looked tangled in Uchi's hair.

Yoko chuckled, tilting his head up to take a sip of his beer. "What about Subaru running naked down the hall with the Robin Hood hat?"

"I don't think that counts," Ryo said, hiccuping his own laugh. The mood was mellow and the apartment was warm, and with the heads of two of his best friends rested on his body he felt more comfortable than he had in a while.

"It was perfect, though. Nobody could tell if it was a trick or a treat." Yoko had already made the joke many times that night, and Hina had riffed off it, but Ryo still laughed at it, the lazy laugh of someone who was drinking themselves to sleep.

They were silent for a moment then, swirling the last dregs of beer in their cans. Uchi started to snore lightly in his sleep and Ryo smiled affectionately down at him. None of them saw Uchi nearly enough, and Ryo missed him. It had been long enough now that everything was behind them, but it still hurt sometimes. Yoko was the only person Ryo knew who would ever let it show - like tonight - and the thought made Ryo's heart ache a little.

Yoko seemed to know what was going through Ryo's head, and he reached over to press his hand over the one Ryo was keeping in Uchi's hair. The gesture was awkward and embarrassing, but the feeling behind it was so warm Ryo couldn't say anything.

"Thank you," Yoko whispered, fingers dragging over the back of Ryo's hand as though to squeeze it. Ryo smiled out of the corner of his mouth; they might have grown up and moved on, but some things would never change.

"It was nothing. You big baby."

**Author's Note:**

> Remix of [That Time Eito Almost Lost Yoko to Pumpkinhood](http://community.livejournal.com/rabujuice/10260.html).


End file.
